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Just ask the now-defunct Fox series “Lone Star.” The freshman program, which debuted to an insipid 4.1 million viewers, was expelled from the network last week just after two episodes. And the rush was immediately on to fill its spot.

Cue the early return of “Lie to Me.” The show about a team of human lie detectors originally was set to premiere its third season in November on Wednesday nights

“Trying to launch a show in four or five days is a bit tricky,” said series lead Tim Roth, who plays behavioral scientist Dr. Cal Lightman. “Suddenly, where we had a cushion, we now don’t.”

The show makes its return to primetime Monday night -- the premiere concerns Cal’s involvement in a bank robbery. But it’s hardly something to be excited about, said Brendan Hines, who plays the radically honest Eli Loker.

“It’s a weird feeling to be replacing [‘Lone Star’],” Hines said. “It almost feels like we’re tramping on someone’s grave.”

Weirdness aside, Roth and Hines- -- on a whirlwind publicity blitz to spread the word about the show's early return -- can’t help but tout the show’s third season as “amazing.”

“It’s like a case of having best the sex ever,” Hines said. “This season is really some of our best stuff.”

Roth, echoed those sentiments, saying the Fox drama has finally reached its potential. “It’s like the writers took the best of last season and ran with those ideas.” Roth said. “Every script that I’ve read this season has had muscular writing.”

Viewers can expect a lot of character-driven episodes, he added. More Lightman back story can also be expected, including a look into his relationships with other women (and his daughter). Fans of Loker will see him get a little more aggressive and confrontational -- “I took a guy down with a baseball,” Hines teased -- and we’ll be seeing him outside the lab a lot more this season.

“It’s quite the season,” Roth said. “We just hope people follow us to Mondays ... that we perform well.”